THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
ing to spend millions of dollars in deep
ening the magnificent harbor at Charlotte
Amalia, on the island of St. Thomas,
expecting that here will be a favored
spot for the calling of ships after the big
waterway is in operation.
Lying hard by the main shipway from
Europe to the canal and being a free
port, St. Thomas anticipates a great
boom. And it will almost certainly be
come the Panama-hat distributing center
of the world. I have been in every coun
try north of the Equator, and on this
island I saw the biggest Panama-hat store
I have ever seen. It is probably the big
gest emporium of its kind in the world.
WHERE IS COLUMBUS BURIED?
Santo Domingo expects that it will get
a share in the great international com
merce that will move through the Pan
ama Canal. Not only will it afford a
great highway for its exports and im
ports, but will also constitute an impor
tant port of call for many kinds of ships.
Here one may see the house of Colum
bus, and if the conclusions of the priests
of Santo Domingo are to be believed, his
very ashes. It seems that Columbus, his
brother, and his son were interred in the
Cathedral. In after years it was decided
to remove the ashes of the Discoverer to
Havana.
When the Spaniards were fighting in
the Spanish-American war they took the
bones at Havana back to Spain and in
terred them there. It is claimed that it
has since been demonstrated that those
are the bones of his brother.
The Santo Domingans afterward op
ened up a leaden casket and in it found
the inscription "Cristobal Colon, First
Admiral."
Other evidence substantiates
the claim and was strong enough to con
vince Secretary Knox that the Domini
cans actually do possess 'the real bones
of Columbus.
The casket was opened for our party.
There were small parts of the skull,
vertebrae, ribs, and femurs remaining;
but for the most part there was nothing
but dust. The bones still remaining un
crumbled would fill about a quarter-peck
measure.
UNCLE SAM AS A CUSTOM'S CLERK
Under the convention by which the
United States is overseeing the collection
of customs in Santo Domingo, remark
able results are being achieved. When
the United States sent the receiver there,
the customs collections in their entirety
did not suffice to meet the needs of the
government and the republic was a bank
rupt, defaulting on its interest and hav
ing the warships of a European nation
at its door.
One of the early acts of the receiver
was to revise the tariff. Export duties
were cut in two and import duties were
lowered 14 per cent.
Under the old tariff champagne was
admitted with a nominal duty and beer
was heavily taxed; silks came in almost
free and cotton goods bore a heavy bur
den; French sardines were admitted with
a low duty and rice was assessed with a
very heavy one. It put the burdens of
taxation on the poor masses and prac
tically exempted the rich classes.
The revised tariff reversed all this.
And under an honest administration of
the tariff laws 60 per cent of the reduced
tariff gives the country more revenue
than 100 per cent of the old tariff. The
other 40 per cent goes to the liquidation
of the foreign debt of the country.
Haiti does not expect much from the
Panama Canal, for here is the one spot
in the New World where black rules.
white, and to which the tourist tide will
probably never flow.
Here also there have been revolutions,,
starting almost with each change of the
moon, for a generation or more. The
country is perhaps the most backward in
the New World. They never plant any
thing. Haiti grows a considerable amount
of coffee, but it grows on trees which are
now the wild descendants of the trees
which were planted by the French colo
nists.
Porto Rico feels that the completion
of the canal spells new prosperity for it.
Plans are on foot for a magnificent tropi
cal hotel, to be built at San Juan. Being
hard by the natural route for ships be
tween the canal and Europe, it expects.
to profit by the traffic as Genoa profited
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